The Washington Twp. Historical Society meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at the Washington Twp. Fire House. We have programs planned from September, 2004 thru February, 2005. Below are the dates and speakers that are planned.

Sept. 28, 2004 Township firemen will give history of the department

Oct. 26, 2004 Wives of area farmers will tell of their life on the farm

March, April, May Programs are in the works but not have been confirmed for which month

June 28, 2005 Picnic and election

We welcome any interested persons to attend or join the Society. Hope to see you there.

Janet

SCHOOL DAYS

A project to be continued on a yearly basis for third graders at Washington Twp. School will be the history of the township. I told of school years at the Washington School – prices for lunches, ice cream, and about where the different classrooms were when I attended. I showed clothing and articles from the past. The students seemed interested and we received Thank You notes indicating that they really enjoyed us being there. We gave each student a pencil with the Society’s name on it. It was greatly appreciated.

Janet

OPEN HOUSE

The Historical Society has held two successful open houses. April of 2003 and April of 2004 each saw 100-150 people in attendance looking through the past of Beechwood, Maximo, Freeburg, Fairmount Children’s Home and anything in between, including schools and the fire department. This year’s open house held a Style Show of clothing covering the years from 1860 to 2004. Put on by the Country Folks 4-H Club, they used the first piece of clothing donated to the society. It was a ball suit from the Freeburg Arrows in 1950. At this open house we also had old tractors and old cars and pictures of soldiers from the township.

The society has completed 1 quilt for a money making project and another one will be going into the frame soon.. Get your needles ready and come and help.

Marleen

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP PROUD

During the recent Carnation Festival held in Alliance, Washington Township was well represented. The Grand Marshall of the festival was Romaine Burnell. Romaine, growing up in the township, lived on Beechwood Avenue and attended the Beechwood School. The township also had the beauty of the festival when Lana Schuette was named festival queen and also Miss Congeniality. She is the granddaughter of Orvan and Ruth Baker. Lana and her grandparents live on Cenfield St. Congratulations to Lana and Romaine.

STARK ELECTRIC RAILROAD

At one time in the township’s history the electric railroad started in Salem, stopping in Damascus, Beloit, Sebring, and Alliance. Coming into our township it then stopped in Beechwood, went on to Maximo and headed west to Louisville and Canton. The Stark County Park System is coordinating a display celebrating the railroad. This display will cover many facets of the railroad and other events going on in the country at the same time. Plans are underway for our society to present this event at the Washington Elementary School. This will interest the students and teachers as some of it will be especially planned with education in mind. The boy scouts will also have a special part. It promises to be a very interesting project and will tell one more part of our history. Bill Robinson will speak in January giving more information and hopefully excite and interest you as much as it has me.

Carolyn

DAN’S THOUGHTS

Ever since the beginning of the historical society we have seen great interest in the history of Washington Twp. When Janet Moser and I visited with the third grade classes at the Washington School the children were very interested in the history of the area especially what school was like when Janet attended their school. Of course, they think history started when their grandparents were their age. One of our long term goals is to expand our relationship with the teachers and students at the Washington Elementary School.

The attendance at our meetings shows that adults too are interested in our township history. This encourages us to look to additional programs that would be of interest to our members and potential new members. Our annual dues are $10 for an individual membership and $20 for a family membership. The membership fees and the quilt raffle are our only source of income. So you can see your support is important.

The larger our membership the more varied and wider range of programming is possible. We also would like to hear of any ideas you have that the membership would enjoy.